By Angela Gonzales } Phoenix Business Journal
Although housing activity remains in a rut nationwide, local population and job growth is keeping Phoenix somewhat insulated from the national housing malaise.
“Put bluntly, housing activity remains in a rut,” according to a December study published by UCLA Anderson Forecast and the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate. The study forecasts modest gains in housing starts nationwide, with 1.31 million unit starts in 2019 and 1.32 million in 2020, which lags behind the 1.4 million to 1.5 million units that UCLA analysts believe to be consistent with long run demand.
But analysts and homebuilders in the Valley aren’t worried about the national slowdown.
“While the pace of growth may well slow nationally, and even locally, I suspect the pace of growth in Phoenix will be stronger than growth across the country as a whole,” said Peter O’Neil, director of research for NorthMarq Capital in Phoenix.
